City Combat (Civ6)
Civilization VI changes dramatically city combat, thanks to the new District system and the new rules for City Defenses. Having large, strategically important parts of the city outside of its main tile give the attacker new possibilities for harassment, and force the defender to consider carefully how is he defending against invasions. However, remember that the ultimate goal is still the central city tile - the City Center district. City combat statistics Cities (and Encampments) are also considered combatants, and as such have combat statistics. First, they both have Health stat, of course (which is denoted 'Garrison health'). City Centers have 200 Health, while Encampment Districts - 100 Health. Second, they have a Combat Strength stats, which is equal to the one of the strongest Melee unit your civilization currently possesses, minus 10, or to the Unit which is garrisoned inside the city (whichever is greater). Note that Corps or Army units are capable of pushing this number higher than otherwise possible, so when you station such a unit into a city, its CS will increase accordingly. Furthermore, city CS increases for each District the city has, making larger cities more difficult to conquer, even without defenses. The Capital gains an additional boost of 3 thanks to its Palace; this is called 'Palace Guard' in the strength breakdown. As per combat rules, the damage the city will suffer from each attack is determined by the difference between the attacker's and the city's strength. Note, however, that the presence of City Defenses may greatly reduce that damage (see below). Ranged attack In Civilization VI cities don't get to attack on their own, unless they have build City Defenses! Once they have at least Ancient Walls, any city and its parent Encampment district gain a Ranged Strike. Its strength is equal to the Ranged strength of the strongest unit your civilization possesses. As usual, the city's Ranged Strike has a Range of 2, but note that now it also is subject to Line-of-sight rules! That means that an attacking unit may now hide behind Forests or Hills, even if within range of the city! If the Outer Defense of a city (or an Encampment) has been completely destroyed, its Ranged Strike again becomes unavailable. For more information on City Defenses, which is one of the major innovation of the game, keep reading. City defenses Cities don't start with automatic defenses anymore, not until you acquire the Civil Engineering Civic. Before that, cities will be quite vulnerable to attackers: cities will only damage melee attackers in retaliation for their attacks, but Ranged attackers will be able to damage cities with impunity (although they suffer a RS penalty). Building Walls in the City Center District improves dramatically its defense. Not only does it gain a Ranged Strike, but it also gains an 'outer defense' perimeter (aka 'Wall'). This perimeter is practically a second health layer, which also defends the main Health by significantly reducing damage done to it (at least while it's still largely intact - look below). Note that normal units do significantly reduced damage against this defense, (-85% for Melee units, -50% for Ranged ones) unless they have the support of a Battering Ram unit. Also, the Siege Tower support unit allows melee units to circumvent the outer defense layer and attack the city directly. Bombard-type units are specifically designed to bring down City Defenses, and always do full damage to them. Also, Ranged ships (like the Frigate) do full damage against City Defenses. There are also a number of Promotions which increase unit effectiveness when attacking cities or Encampments. These could be especially useful to a militaristic civilization bent on conquest. The presence of an Outer defense protects the Health of the city somewhat. While the Walls are completely healthy, no attack can harm the city itself. After the walls are 'breached', but still standing, attacks start getting through and harming the city itself, although their force is greatly reduced. Only when the Wall defense falls below 20 - 30 % of its original strength the city starts taking real hits. The Health of the Defense perimeter depends on the level of these defenses: Ancient Walls have 50 Health, and each upgrade adds +50 Health. After developing Civil Engineering, all cities acquire Defenses automatically (without the need to construct Walls), and their Health goes up to 200. Another revolutionary difference is that the Encampment District also acquires a defense perimeter after building Walls, effectively forming a second center of resistance, with its own Ranged Strike! The Encampment tile becomes impassable, and can be Attacked just like the City Center. It has the same Combat Strength rules as the Center, and will retaliate to Melee attacks. It cannot be Pillaged, of course, while it still stands; but after the Encampment's Health is brought down to 0, it, and all its buildings, become Pillaged automatically (the attacker doesn't gain any loot from that, apart of the relief not to suffer the Encampment's attacks). Siege Damaged cities repair their base health each turn, although they cannot repair the damage on the walls - this only gets repaired from the city production queue once at least three turns have passed without an attack. However, the word 'siege' now acquires a brand new significance, because if the invading army manages to establish Zone of Control on all passable tiles surrounding the City Center, it will no longer be able to 'heal' the damage it suffers, making it that much easier to defeat! Pillaging Districts adds a new layer of danger - pillaged buildings and districts have to be repaired from the city production queue, and this may take quite a few turns! Capturing cities Finally, the ways cities behave after being captured is also different from previous games. As before, a city is captured when its defenses and health are brought down to 0, and when a Melee unit of any type enters its tile. The city loses part of its Population (but not exactly half as before, more like 1/4 of it), and all buildings in the City Center are damaged and need to be repaired before returning to full function. However, no buildings but the Walls are completely destroyed, and even these become operational right after city capture if the conquering civilization has already developed Civil Engineering. Note that civilization-specific Districts in a captured city revert to their generic versions (so, no - you can't capture a Greek city and enjoy its Acropolis!); and conversely, if a captured city has a generic District, which your civilization replaces with a special one, this District will convert immediately. Special Tile Improvements don't convert - they simply disappear. Districts (and possibly also Improvements) whose respective tech or civic you haven't researched yet also disappear! Finally, unlike Civilization V, there is no 'loot' when capturing a city. The victor won't receive any ; however, he will 'inherit' all Great Works that were in the city's buildings and districts. If the city has any Wonders, the conqueror may get the wonder benefit, if it is a long-term one (for example, Petra's terrain effect). As in Civilization V, he won't get any one-time effects, such as free units or science/culture boosts. Note that Wonders under construction are cancelled, and their respective tile becomes empty. Effectively, the losing side loses all the progress it had made towards this Wonder. Now the victor has to choose what to do with the captured city. Note that this choice doesn't need to be done immediately as before, but it does have to be done before the end of the turn - it appears in the Notifications tab and is required to End the Turn. The options are: * Keep city. This will immediately annex the city and its parent territory. The relevant Warmonger penalties apply. The city, however, enters 'Occupied' status (see below). * Raze city. This option will immediately remove the city and all its Districts from the game. Note the 'immediately' - unlike in previous games, a city won't take several turns to disappear! Its territory becomes Neutral again. Triple Warmonger penalties apply for this action. Also note that you can't raze Original capitals, former City-States and some other types of cities. * Liberate city. This will return the city to its original owner, and is only possible if this city had been conquered by another player before. Liberating cities applies an Anti-Warmonger bonus, which will counter directly Warmonger penalty scores. If you Liberate a City-State, you will immediately gain 3 Envoys with it and become its Suzerain. Occupied Cities Occupied cities work differently in Civilization VI. They are fully functional from the start (no 'Resistance' period), however their productivity is severely limited. First, they simply won't grow in Population, even when all normal growth factors are positive. Second, their and production suffer a -75% penalty, while and suffer -50% penalty. A city will remain Occupied until its previous owner doesn't agree to 'Cede' the city through diplomatic negotiations (usually as part of Peace settlement). At this point the city will become fully functional again. Note that the previous owner will hold a grudge forever, though - this will sour your diplomatic relationship with them, until you decide to return the city. The city will also start growing if its previous owner is fully defeated, i.e. all its cities are conquered or razed. Category:Game concepts (Civ6)